Everything about the pencil

Everyone has held a pencil in their hand and used it at some point. About the story, and how he to his Names came, but very few know about it.

History of the pencil

• Even with the Egyptians around 5000 years ago, lead pencils were used to write and draw. They filled lead in papyrus or bamboo tubes or used lead sticks without a sheath. People took advantage of the good abrasion properties of lead.
• In the 13th In the 19th century, artists and scholars were already using lead alloys for writing and drawing. In addition, they soldered a silver tip. But it was laborious to work with the "silver pen". In addition to the health consequences of the poisonous lead, the paper also had to be processed before it could be used for design.
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• The pencil you know was born in the middle of the 17th century. Century in Borrowdale in England. People shaped the graphite found there into sticks and used it in wooden pens.
• Since people mistakenly believed graphite to be lead ore, the name "pencil" was developed.


Soft pencil - you should keep this in mind when drawing

A soft pencil has many advantages, especially when sketching. However, also have ...

• The "natural, pure graphite" was very expensive, scarce and was also used by the military for tools for making ammunition. That is why there were often delivery problems.
• The Viennese Joseph Hardtmuth therefore tried to mix the graphite dust with clay and water and then burn it. With success - his grandson developed the process further and managed to produce pencils in 17 different degrees of hardness.
• The French Nicolas-Jacques Conté developed a groundbreaking process in 1795. With this it was possible to get out of inferior graphite Germany and Austria to manufacture pencils. To do this, he pulverized the ore and washed away the graphite.
• In the 19th In the 19th century, the well-known companies Faber-Castell, Lyra, Schwan-Stabilo and Staedler developed around Nuremberg. These companies are still the market leaders in writing implements and paints today.

Manufacture of the pen

The current manufacturing process has remained essentially the same as with Hardtmuth and Conté. That is why it is also known as the father of the modern pencil.

1. The mine consists of a mixture of graphite and clay. Depending on the degree of hardness, the graphite content is between 20 and 90 percent.
2. This mixture is pressed into a strand through nozzles and cut to the length of a lead.
3. It is then dried in the oven at around 160 ° C and later fired at up to 1100 ° C. Here the manufacturers can influence the degree of hardness again with the temperature and burning time.
4. The leads are then treated with palm oil and wax to improve the pencil's abrasion and gliding properties.
5. These are then glued into grooved boards and sawn into pegs. The woods most commonly used for this are pine, cedar, linden and maple.

Degree of hardness of pencils

Depending on whether you want to draw with a pencil or write books, you can opt for a different pen. You can choose between four main degrees of hardness.

• The softest pencil is labeled "B", which stands for "Black". These pens are used by artists for drawing. The "B" pens are (very) soft and black. A further subdivision is made from 2B to 9B. The higher the number, the softer and darker the pen.
• The hard pencils are marked with "H" for "hard". Here, too, you will find a subdivision from 2H to 9H. These pens are mainly used for mathematical or technical drawings.
• The pencils that are suitable for writing have the designation "HB" for "Hard-Black" or "F" for Firm. These are the pens for everyday use.

Even if smartphones and tablets are currently on the rise, everyone still has a pencil. Whether as a mechanical pencil or in a traditional wooden dress with an eraser, we will still come across it every day. And one thing is certain, it won't disappear from our lives anytime soon.